Thomas Edward Brown TomBrowniam@aol.com
Testimony
Following high school I entered the United States Air Force and received orders for a tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. Upon returning home, I took the option of an early discharge in exchange for attending college. During my college years I was challenged with the claims of Jesus from the Bible. After a time of reflection, I believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Having grown up a nominal Roman Catholic, I intellectually understood the biblical teachings of the Christian faith – the nature of God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross and subsequent bodily resurrection. But these teachings were impersonal to me. On one occasion in 1975, I was asked if I were a Christian. I said that I was – as I understood the meaning of being a Christian. The question was further pressed, "Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ through the reception of the gospel?" I did not know how to respond.
I was then invited to attend a college Bible study. It was there that the gospel was made plain to me in a personal way. To complement the gospel, I was given a booklet describing what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ through faith. I took the booklet home.
The following morning I read the booklet, and as I did, I came to the clear understanding that, in a sentence, I am a sinner.
Something was different about that moment. For the first time, I had the sense of my spiritual poverty before God. It was not the sense that I had committed one or several sins, but that I was a sinner by nature and at the mercy of God for salvation. I came to understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross in a personal way; that His death accomplished full atonement for my sins. I understood that only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone could I be saved. I surrendered my life to Christ and received Him by faith.
For the first time I knew forgiveness and the love of God toward me as described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:6-11.
As I continued to grow in my faith and knowledge of God, my life and ministry took shape. The following is a brief record of that development.
Ministry
The Word of God is my life and my love. For almost two decades, I have been a local church pastor and an instructor with Moody Bible Institute through the Cleveland Extension.
My wife, LouAnn, and I have known a growing ministry. In addition to the work related to pastoring a local church, we have known a consistent ministry among college students, most recently to students from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. By God’s doing, our ministry continues among many peppered throughout the world.
We realize the tremendous treasure we possess, first in our five kids, who by God’s grace, all walk with the Lord, and in the people God has privileged us to build up in Christ. We are rich in fellowship beyond anything we could imagine. We are fully satisfied and complete.
Calling
I view ministry, not as my occupation, but my calling. I desire to do nothing else. My greatest delight is the Apostle John's joy when he wrote: "For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my [God’s] children walk in truth" (3 John 3, 4).
Gifts
My strengths have been described as teaching, leadership development, and administration. By administration I mean the practical development of Christians in their spiritual walk and subsequent placement into ministry – a practical directing of believers toward ministry through the local church. Leadership development has been the core of my ministry activity since 1979.
In 1990 my ministry merged into all the work that belongs to a local church pastor. As a pastor-teacher, I remain committed to two primary objectives: first, to an expository ministry and, second, to leadership development for the next generation. The practical form of my ministry has developed according to the following phases of growth from 1979 to 2007.
- From 1979 to 1981, my ministry involved the continual development of leadership in three ministries: discipleship, evangelism, and ministry to wayward kids in the Los Angeles area. These ministries included approximately 12 leaders overseeing 250 people; 26 leaders teaching 200 people; and, 10 leaders working in 7 juvenile camp facilities.
- From 1981 to 1984, my ministry involved the continual development of international and inner-city pastors in the Los Angeles area. My pastoral responsibilities were focused toward oversight and development of all US outreach ministries among international leadership and peoples that Grace Community Church received.
- From 1984 to 1990, my ministry continued through leadership development at Parkside Church in Solon, Ohio. By 1988 my ministry resulted in the training of 58 home Bible study leaders for the implementation of 36 working home groups. Concurrently with these ministries, I shared ministry giving direction to global outreach and missionary development at Parkside Church.
- In 1990 I received the call to pastor Grace Church of North Olmsted where I remained until December 22, 2002.
- In 2003 I began a new work in the North Olmsted, Ohio area, as pastor of Calvary Community Church. I continued teaching with Moody Bible Extension Studies until 2010.
